School takes pupils on road safety walk

Teacher Chris Bradney said they wanted to give children confidence about crossing the road safely

A Shropshire school has taken pupils on walks to learn about road safety as part of a speed reduction campaign by a national charity.

Brake wants default 20mph speed limits in residential areas, and said that in 2022, more than 6,000 children aged four to 11 were injured on UK roads.

Haughton School in Madeley, Telford, was part of the Brake Kids Walk on Wednesday.

Teacher Chris Bradney said it was important that what the children learned in class about staying safe around roads was put into practice.

"There's a lot of fast-moving traffic here, we are very close to the dual carriageways," said Mr Bradney.

The lessons had included not getting too close to the kerb when waiting to cross the road, not squeezing between cars, and not taking for granted how fast vehicles were travelling.

"We've done the interactive chalk and talk in the class, and then we go out and about and put it into practice," he added.

"It makes us more confident to cross roads by ourselves," said one pupil.

Temporary traffic restrictions have been imposed outside several Shropshire schools as part of a pilot project to improve safety and reduce children's exposure to air pollution.